New Cancelled Games & Their Lost Media Added to the Archive

Playstation, Sony

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time [Playstation – Cancelled]

monokoma
17-07-2021
1 Comment

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女, Toki o Kakeru Shojo) is a cancelled adventure game that was planned around 1998 by Bandai for the original Playstation. The game was based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui and possibly the related 1997 movie (and not the 2006 anime, unless Bandai leapt through time), which were quite popular at the time.

By looking at gameplay from the available footage (found in the VHS edition of the 1997 movie and on a CD-ROM from “Pre-Pre” PlayStation CLUB magazine) the game looked similar to Revelations: Persona on PS1, with top-down 2D exploration and animated cutscenes. As far as we know there was no combat in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, but there could have been some kind of dating-sim mechanics.

Character design for this lost PS1 video game was by Minene Sakurano (who at the time was working on Mamotte Shugogetten) and the scenario was written by Hiroshi Yamaguchi (mostly known for his participation in Gainax and Gonzo). A preview was published in Dengeki PlayStation magazine (Vol.76, June 1998): if you are able to translate the most important parts from this preview, please let us know in the comments below!

Thanks go GIoN for the contribution

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PSP, Sony

Switch (GRIN) [Cancelled – PSP]

monokoma
10-07-2021
1 Comment

Switch is a cancelled FPS that was in development by GRIN around 2006 (after they finished working on Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for PC), planned to be released on the Sony PSP. It seems the game was officially announced by the company, and they wanted to launch it along with some kind of hardware add-on for the PSP. Not much information is still available online, but we know the game was set on a space base, following a sci-fi story similar to Alien.

Some Switch concept art was shown by the company at the time and a 3D model was shared online by a former GRIN artist. These images are preserved below, to remember the existence of this lost game.

In the end GRIN had many more canned games when the company bankrupted: Streets of Rage Reboot, Strider, Wanted 2, Tower, Final Fantasy Fortress.

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Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Blades of Rage (Ocean) [Cancelled – Playstation, Saturn]

monokoma
10-07-2021
No Comments

Blades of Rage is a cancelled helicopter flight-sim that was in development by Ocean Software for the original Playstation and Sega Saturn. The game was set in the near future, when maniacal dictators and random violence prevail in the world. Players would take the role of a pilot / tactician, flying in different missions trying to restore peace.

Each mission would offer various objectives, such as transport jobs and assassinations, with day and night cycles. Six custom choppers would have been able to choose from, each with unique, experimental weapons systems. Blades of Rage would have been played in first person view, so we can speculate gameplay could have been similar to G-Police. A couple of screenshots from the game were published in Gamepro’s Cutting Edge (spring 1996).

Thanks to KFHEWUI for the contribution!

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Others, PC / MAC

Lada Racing Club 2 [PC – Cancelled]

U64 Staff & Contributors
10-07-2021
No Comments

Lada Racing Club 2 is a cancelled racing game that was in development by Geleos Media, planned to be released on PC. The first Lada Racing Club was quite hyped before its release: the team promised full tuning from russian AvtoVaz company, being able to build the car of your dreams from real existing parts, impressive graphics and physics. Players would have been able to drive around a super realistic Moscow, so detailed that if you live in the city you could even drive to your real-life home.

Unfortunately when the game was released in 2006 players were not happy: Lada Racing Club had a ton of bugs, poor AI, boring tracks, weak customization, and it could be completed in just 3 hours. After receiving criticisms Geleos Media promised to improve everything in Lada Racing Club 2, but players heavily boycotted the project and the team couldn’t raise enough money to fully work on the sequel.

Thanks to Josef for the contribution!

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Microsoft, Others, PC / MAC, Xbox

TRON 3.0 (Climax Studios) [Cancelled – Xbox, PC]

monokoma
01-07-2021
2 Comments

TRON 3.0 is a cancelled sequel to TRON 2.0, which was in development by Climax Studios around 2004, planned to be published by Buena Vista Interactive for Xbox and PC. The same team already worked on Tron 2.0: Killer App for Xbox, so we can assume the project was successful enough to convince Buena Vista to hire them again for another game.

As far as we know TRON 3.0 was never officially announced, but concept art was found online by fans of the series and preserved below to remember the existence of this lost game.

If you know someone who worked on this project and could help us save more details, please let us know!

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